Chicken Tonic

A number of you (Jen, Julie, Cindy, Penny, Christy) commented on my last post that you would like the recipe for the special carrot tonic I have been feeding my under-the-weather chickens.

So, here it is - just for you!

Carrot Water Tonic:

Ingredients:

6 carrots (leave the peel on)
1 clove garlic
Adult dose of Vitamin C
Adult dose of Echinacea
2 cups water

Blend this together with a couple cups of water, add to a gallon
waterer and add enough water to fill the waterer. Give it to the chickens and they will slurp it up. It boosts the immune system, helping them, in a natural way, over what ails them.

As my chicken mentor, Tonya, says:
"Carrot water can be given any time, as an immune booster or if you see something you want to try treating naturally, like watery eyes or sniffles. It is good for what ails chickens - and people too."

The above recipe has been floating around my online chicken-owners group for years. My modifications to it are:

--> I do not have a gallon waterer, only a 5-gallon galvanized waterer so I used this. Note: For a few days afterward, the waterer smelled like garlic. Be careful when putting it in plastic; the intense orange color of the fresh carrots will stain things.

--> I like garlic. The chickens like garlic. It's good for them. I add at least 3 cloves, but please note, this may affect egg flavor.

--> My echinacea also has goldenseal included in it. Searching online, I read a few people reference using it for improving their chickens digestion, so I felt ok about adding it.
--> "Adult dose" of Vitamin C, according to my online sources, equates to about 5 Vit C 1000 in a gallon of the mixture. I was nervous and only put in 3 tablets of the Vit C, as well as the Echinacea/ Goldenseal. It's up to you.
--> You should only keep this out for about 24 hours -- if you are going to use it for longer than 24 hours, mix up a new batch. (If it has been hot outside, I will not leave it out overnight and will make up a fresh batch for the next day.)

It is recommended that when feeding this, you should actually take away their other water sources so the only water they are drinking is this tonic. But don't forget to give them their water back when the tonic is gone!

Every time I make my chickens a new batch, they can't even wait for me to set it down before they are already slurping it up:

Yum. Even Roopert the rooster loves it: